New Shun 1730

Gothenburg is further north than Heilongjiang, the northernmost part of Dashun that Mantou had visited.

The latitude can be easily calculated from the sextant. The latitude of this place is much higher than that of Heilongjiang, but the climate is much warmer than that of Heilongjiang.

The winter is not too cold, and the port will not freeze. It is equivalent to the climate of Weihai, or even warmer.

The officers from Jinghai Palace on the Free Trade knew that this was because of the North Atlantic warm current. But they had learned it in the classroom before. Now that they have come to this place and experienced it in person, they know that the ocean current is really amazing. It can be so far north and still so warm.

Some people thought, if the Whale Sea is so warm, I am afraid that Heilongjiang has been full of people since the Han and Tang Dynasties? Why do we need to spend money to immigrate there every year?

On the ship, all kinds of goods brought from China have been sold out, and the scarce goods such as tea were bought by a group of smugglers going to the UK on the first day after obtaining the permission of the Swedish Parliament.

At this time, a group of dock workers were loading Swedish ironware, copper, etc. onto the ship.

It would not return until February of the Western calendar, which was around the Chinese New Year. Like those Swedish ships, they had to go to Cadiz, Spain, to sell the Swedish copper and iron there for Spanish silver coins.

A few years ago, the port of Seville in Spain was silted up, so the trade center had to be moved to Cadiz, which was the favorite of the Swedes and only there could they get enough silver coins.

To trade with China, the Swedes could only use silver coins, and the Dashun side was only interested in silver coins.

The merchants on the ship had already calculated that, not counting the profits from the special license to sell Swedish copper, iron and tar to Spain, the profits from the one-way tea and porcelain were 110%.

After deducting the damage to the ship, the death of people, and the repairs, there was still 80% left.

It was not as good as the two-way trade to Japan, but the Japanese trade was so small that there was not much growth. This 80% profit was transmitted back to China, and I think the stock price of the trading company would surge again.

This time, the preparations were more thorough, and only two people died along the way. For the first voyage, this was a pretty good result.

The merchants thought that if they could buy a batch of ivory in Africa on the way back, they could make another fortune. Unfortunately, Sweden had no power in Africa and was unfamiliar with the place, so this idea could only be put on hold for the time being.

The 80% profit rate of return has already made these people quite satisfied.

And after communicating with the smugglers, the smugglers thought that they could take several times more goods.

The Swedish East India Company still lacked capital, and the cost of shipbuilding was high, especially for ships that could go to China, which were indeed expensive.

In addition, China only accepted real gold and silver, and the Swedish East India Company could not afford so much real gold and silver for trade. It was also suppressed by the East India Companies of the Netherlands, Britain, France and other countries, which made these smugglers in Gothenburg hungry.

Smugglers have always believed that they are engaging in "free trade" and have shown great favor for Dashun's "Free Trade". Of course, the main reason is that it can bring them benefits.

In fact, before the Swedish East India Company was established, the pirates of Madagascar had cooperated with the Swedes.

They robbed ships and goods, and they had to sell the stolen goods.

The pirates of Madagascar had a similar vision to Liu Yu. After looking around Europe, they felt that the best partner was Sweden.

Britain, the Netherlands, France and Spain all hated the pirates of Madagascar, and the pirates could not find them to cooperate. At that time, they thought that Gothenburg, Sweden was simply the best place to sell stolen goods.

Although it didn't work out in the end, it also shows that they have vision.

Or, in other words, the current trade situation in Europe can only open a gap from Sweden.

Great minds think alike.

Unfortunately, Sweden established the East India Company, and the cooperation relationship with the pirates ended here.

Smugglers really treat pirates as their own fathers, and their goods are cheap and good, which is a pity.

Although Dashun's "Free Trade" is not a pirate, it is almost the same as the pirates in the past under the environment of the European East India Company's division of the market, trade protectionism and mercantilism of various countries. It is simply the father in the eyes of smugglers.

It's a pity that this is Sweden. In other people's territory, the strong dragon cannot suppress the local snake. After this trip, whether it will work next time depends on the face of the Swedes.

Smugglers don't have private ports in Europe, but some smugglers asked if they could cooperate to drive the ship directly to America and do some big business.

After considering it, the officers on the ship felt that it was too whimsical. There was no place to stay in Europe, and there were cruise ships and pirates everywhere. Going to America might not be a delivery of food to others?

During the time it was anchored in Gothenburg, it attracted many visitors and many people with different thoughts.

At this time, Europe was experiencing a wave of China fever. The last time Duke Qi visited Paris, it caused a sensation in Europe. The Swedes had heard of it but had never seen it in person. This time, they really saw it. This large merchant ship built with a lot of money also made the Swedes believe that this was a powerful empire.

Some officers stayed on the ship to sort out the sea charts, while others visited the Swedish shipyard and saw a large merchant ship named "Gothenburg" being built by the Swedes.

It was about the same size as the Free Trade, but it might take a year to be completed. The Swedish shipbuilding level was no longer comparable to Weihai at this time, after all, they were poor.

Several of the truly responsible leaders on the ship were not in Gothenburg at this time, but had gone to Stockholm.

Although this ship is a commercial ship, it also has an official component. If you want to cooperate in the future, you must obtain permission from the Swedish Parliament.

The current King of Sweden has no formal inheritance rights and is a "son-in-law".

At this time, the wife of the King of Sweden was not the first in line of succession. It was similar to Dashun's patriarchal system. The queen also had a nephew left by her deceased sister, and the nephew's inheritance rights were higher than hers.

"Improper position" is what the formal congressmen like: Either you agree to more requests from the congressmen, or we will not support you, the second in line of succession.

It is similar to the Russian Privy Council's idea of ​​seizing power, except that the Swedish Parliament did not get away with it. After all, Sweden is not the "Third Rome" and lacks the tradition of a Praetorian coup.

Not only did he not get away with it, but also there were rumors that "Charles XII was killed by his brother-in-law, the current King of Sweden." As a result, the power of the Swedish King was greatly restricted, and parliamentary approval was required for anything.

The King of Sweden is also the Count of Hesse and Kassel. His real territory is in the HRE. Although it is controlled by the Parliament in Sweden, he still has a large amount of income in his territory. In addition, he is also the major shareholder of the Swedish East India Company. One, the money is quite a lot.

Historically, this man had many ideas. Not to mention building a Chinese manor, his biggest idea was to "raise silkworms" in Sweden. He sent people to get silkworm seeds from Guangdong and wanted to raise silkworms in Stockholm. The results can be imagined. .

This time the Free Trade arrived in Sweden, and the Swedish king and his wife welcomed her with grand palace etiquette.

Nominally, this is the Dashun official's "return of the Swedish prisoners captured by Russia in the Great Northern War", and it can also be regarded as a formal official exchange.

But from Dashun's point of view, this can't be considered official: the people on the ship didn't even greet the government minister. Is it considered an official transaction?

The Swedes don't understand either. In addition, due to the Russian-Chinese War, there is quite a sense of intimacy that the enemies of our enemies are our friends.

Therefore, with a stroke of their pen, the gentlemen in the Congress allowed the Free Trade Ship's request to sell the goods it carried in Gothenburg. As a show of goodwill, they were also allowed to be exempted from tax this time.

It's just that this time tax exemption and allowing the sale of goods is not Dashun's idea. The steamed bun adheres to Liu Yu's will and naturally wants more.

The introduction of wood tar technology went surprisingly smoothly, without much negotiation at all.

After just mentioning it, Sweden allowed it. Anyway, Dashun's wood tar cannot be sold to Europe and cannot take away their business. It can also show favor to Russia's enemy. Why not?

But talking about future trade did not go well.

It would be okay if it was just the king, but in the Swedish Parliament, there are a large number of people who hold shares in the East India Company, and they don't want to ask Dashun businessmen to get a piece of the pie.

In the resting place, the person in charge of this business negotiation was complaining to Steamed Bun about his dissatisfaction.

"Brother Ziming, do you think there is something wrong with the Swedes' brains? Are they the only ones who can establish a monopoly of the East India Company? Do you think our country will only have free trade? Put a seal on their business offices and prohibit trade. They Can't make a penny."

"You bitch, you're here to show off to me. The Swedes don't want the goods from Guangdong and Fujian. The Dutch and the British want them, but they don't even think about it. Without them, it will have no impact on our country. Without us, they will not." We don’t even have the goods, just waiting to go bankrupt!”

Steamed Bun smiled and said: "Don't be impatient, this is not something you and I can talk about. Didn't the Swedes say they would send a special envoy to China this time? If you can't talk about the tariffs, there will be someone who can talk about it after you return. That Kaolin ·Kambier is now also knighted in Sweden and is a major shareholder of the East India Company. It is most suitable for him to go. "

"When the Swedes went to Guangdong for the first time, he led the team. At that time, he was given the title of ambassador to China, thinking that negotiations would be necessary. But he didn't even see the Guangdong Jiedushi, so he directly Just trade.”

"Master Liu has long said that there is a problem with our government's trade policy. What is this called trade? This is simply laissez-faire. No one in the world engages in trade like this. It is the only truly free trade in the world."

"The imperial court never thought that trade could be controlled, nor did it understand it. Now that Mr. Liu is provoking it, the imperial court should be able to respond."

After saying that, Mantou smiled again, spread his hands and said: "If you don't agree, then seal the business building, cut off trade, and let the Swedish East India Company go bankrupt. How simple."

The man sighed: "The imperial court has weapons at its disposal, but it doesn't know how to use them. I don't know what the imperial court is thinking. In the past, they knew that mutual trade could be used as a bargaining chip for the northern grasslands. How could they use the experience of their ancestors to deal with the Westerners?" Have you forgotten?"

Steamed Bun smiled and said: "No one thought of selling goods to Europe before. Although they are sharp, they are useless. This time is different. The Swedes have to agree if they agree, and they have to agree if they don't agree. Why don't you talk about tariffs and cutting off trade? They can't even imagine the threat. Send them a message tomorrow."